


Chiss Hopitality

by windfallswest



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Outbound Flight - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 03:03:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14823998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windfallswest/pseuds/windfallswest
Summary: It was just him and Thrawn this time, sitting facing each other over a small table pushed up against the curved transparisteel viewport in the observation lounge, with its view of the hollowed-out asteroid that concealed Crustai base. Clusters of light dotted the interior bay like constellations, some outlining ships, others equipment or infrastructure, a few winking in patterns Car'das couldn't decipher.Thrawn smiled slightly, regarding him with eyes that glowed redly in the dim light.





	Chiss Hopitality

**Author's Note:**

> Doing some EU back-reading for a completely other fic, I stumbled over _Outbound Flight_ and discovered I'm apparently a fan of Thrawn. The result: random fic! As usual, for a fandom I am completely unprepared to enter.

"—Inflame. How poetic," Thrawn mused. "But then would _in_ flammable mean the same thing as flammable, or the opposite?"

"The same," Car'das admitted, then frowned himself. 

Not for the first time, he wished he'd paid more attention to his lessons in school. He wasn't sure if it was better or worse when Thrawn asked to speak with him alone. With Maris along, he had the reassurance of someone else's confusion, although with her fancy education she did better than him. But when she wasn't there, he didn't have to worry about how she was starting to look at Thrawn. 

It was just him and Thrawn this time, sitting facing each other over a small table pushed up against the curved transparisteel viewport in the observation lounge, with its view of the hollowed-out asteroid that concealed Crustai base. Clusters of light dotted the interior bay like constellations, some outlining ships, others equipment or infrastructure, a few winking in patterns Car'das couldn't decipher. A plate of snacks or dessert sat largely ignored on the table between them, although Car'das had almost finished a cup of some thickly creamy, mildly alcoholic beverage that was served at just above body-temperature.

Thrawn smiled slightly, regarding him with eyes that glowed redly in the dim light, seeming to catalogue his every blink. There was another perk to having Maris here: Thrawn's focus was like a laser drill, and she divided his attention. On the other hand…she divided Thrawn's attention.

"But then how do you say that something cannot catch on fire?"

"Nonflammable," Car'das said.

Thrawn shook his head, dissatisfied. "Your language has so many redundancies. Structure determines relative meaning, but the parts of your words do not have consistent values."

"It's more like Minnisiat than Cheunh," Car'das tried after a moment's thought. "A trade language, or that's how it started out. Maris says there's a lot of Old Corellian in it—which makes sense; we're a major stop on one of the oldest hyperspace routes. I guess you need it to be easy to stick new words into, without a lot of bells and whistles. And it's been the language of the Republic for twenty-five thousand years. That's upwards of a million planets, hundreds of thousands of species, who knows how many languages all mixing into it."

"With no regulation at all?" Thrawn seemed almost taken aback, as though the idea was as foreign to him as droids or minding his own business.

A snort escaped Car'das before he could control himself. "Regulate Basic? How can you regulate a language? I suppose some university types must keep track of it for the lexicons and things, but even the Senate has better sense than to try something like that." Although come to think of it, that definitely explained some things about Cheunh. 

"The Academy Cheu'henh adjudicates the rules for proper grammar and determines which words become part of the lexicon. Being able to articulate oneself properly is very important in Chiss culture. There are those in the Nine Families who are greatly preoccupied with the minutiae of language."

"So that's why this exchange is so important to you," Car'das said as the connexions fell into place in his head. 

Thrawn gave him a small smile. "In part."

He waited, and Car'das knew he was supposed to ask what else Thrawn was getting from all this, aside from what they'd already established—soaking up as much information as possible about the Republic and its capabilities. A shuttle drifted across the open space on some routine errand, and Car'das tracked its running lights instead, following them to a berth further along the asteroid base's curving inner wall.

"Well, it's probably too late for Basic. But I'll admit that Cheunh is a much more beautiful language. What?" Car'das blurted, a bad habit he couldn't seem to break, because Thrawn was shaking his head at him, eyes gleaming almost the exact shade of the _Bargain Hunter_ 's warning lights.

"You try to—talk past?" Thrawn tried.

"Talk around," Car'das supplied ruefully. It was less a correction than an admission. He might not be able to keep up with Thrawn's agile mind, but he had no problem seeing where this sentence was going.

"Talk _around_ subjects that make you uncomfortable."

Car'das met his steady gaze carefully. "I wouldn't lie to you."

"No. You have always shown respect as well as wisdom is that regard. And I understand your circumspection. It is commendable, given your circumstances." Thrawn paused. "I wish to be as honest with you."

He moved to cover one of Car'das' hands resting on the table with his own. "Is this correct?"

Car'das swallowed, his heart suddenly racing and apparently pumping all of the moisture out of his mouth. "I—"

"I do value your honesty. More than I value anything else you could give me."

Thrawn held his gaze, his meaning clear. Car'das could stop this and there would be no further consequences.

He'd felt a jolt all the way up his arm when Thrawn touched him. All his nerves were alive with just that one point of contact. He thought of what more would feel like. Of that brilliant strategic mind focussed entirely on him. Of what his body might look like underneath that uniform. Would Thrawn look at him the way he looked at a battlefield or a piece of art?

Car'das swallowed and turned his hand over, curious to see whether the Chiss shared the custom of interlacing fingers. "It's—correct. Of course. You're right about everything. Do you ever get anything wrong?"

Thrawn's smile slid slightly sideways. "You might be surprised."

Car'das returned it shyly. "I always am, with you."

Thrawn curled their fingers together. With unexpected fervour, Car'das wanted to tighten his grip and pull him in close. Uncertainty of the proprieties held him back. The Chiss had a lot of rules; and anyway, Thrawn wasn't the kind of guy you just lunged at over the table.

Car'das wasn't sure but what he might be the kind of guy to do the lunging, though. Car'das thought he could deal with being lunged at. Thrawn rubbed a thumb over his knuckles, observing his reactions carefully. 

And no doubt having better luck at it. Car'das watched Thrawn in turn, anxious not to miss any cues. 

"Tell me, does your culture have rituals for personal liaisons?"

It took Car'das a moment to gather his wits. "Not really. I guess there are some customs people fall back on if they need to." This came awfully close to some of them, come to think of it. "Excuses to spend time together, mostly. You might have noticed that Corellians aren't very formal. Most of the species in the Republic keep up their own traditions, though."

"And so your culture is like your language: irregular but flexible."

"Another difference from the Chiss?"

Thrawn tilted his head. "Yes and no. Our—how did you phrase it?—excuses to spend time together are more structured. The correct forms must be observed to avoid bringing a scandal to one's family. The higher one's rank, the more politics must be taken into account. It is a matter of display more than anything, to be seen to be doing the proper things. Not an urgent concern in these surroundings."

On the outer edge of Chiss space, where Thrawn was clearly in charge. It certainly wouldn't be the riskiest thing he had done in his life. And Car'das would be leaving soon enough. Why shouldn't they both take this opportunity?

Thrawn stood, tugging Car'das to his feet and not releasing his hand until they were halfway to the door. Thrawn dismissed the guard who had escorted Car'das here, waiting until she had turned down a side passage before leading Car'das in a new direction. 

The corridors were mostly deserted at this hour, and Car'das was emboldened to continue their conversation. "Your quarters?"

Thrawn paused in his stride, turning to look him in the eye. "If you don't object?"

Car'das shook his head. Of course Thrawn wasn't the sort to waste time.

"I thought you might be interested in Maris," Car'das admitted a few metres further along. 

"The way she regards me worried you, but not for the reason you thought," Thrawn diagnosed, unperturbed. 

Car'das shook his head. Less than two weeks he'd been here, and Thrawn seemed to know him better than he knew himself.

"Surely you can see why I would not approach Ferasi."

"Well, there's Qennto," Car'das said, a little dubiously. He had a fair amount of sympathy for Maris: there were a lot of ways in which Qennto simply couldn't stand up to Thrawn.

Thrawn dipped his chin in a nod. "A conflict that would serve no purpose. Additionally, you were correct in your characterisation of Ferasi as an idealist. Matters of attraction aside, you may be less experienced, but your vision is clearer. Please, be welcome," he added, keying open a door at the end of the corridor.

Feeling that anticipatory tingle return, Car'das entered Thrawn's quarters. _Matters of attraction aside._ Car'das had a pretty good idea that a part of how he'd landed this berth with Qennto was that Maris wasn't his type. Like most Corellians, he was fairly flexible in his tastes. But on the star chart of sexual orientation, his vector was plotted generally dickward. Looked like Thrawn might be the same.

That was assuming that Chiss _had_ dicks; otherwise humanoid or not, biology could surprise you. But Car'das couldn't see anything Thrawn was packing being enough to overcome his personal draw. And even if Thrawn found human biology off-putting, he was curious enough to try it at least once. Not a chance to be missed. 

"Matters of attraction aside?" Car'das repeated out loud as the door slid shut behind Thrawn.

Smoothly, Thrawn stepped in, tipped Car'das' head to the side, and brought their mouths together. 

Car'das had to catch himself on Thrawn's shoulders. Thrawn deepened the kiss, drew him into responding, and systematically attacked every surface in his mouth that might have been the least bit sensitive. When he pulled back, he left Car'das panting for air and certain that a second kiss would bring him quite literally to his knees.

"A not insignificant matter." Thrawn's breathing wasn't coming so evenly, either, Car'das noticed with satisfaction.

"Yeah, okay."

The second kiss did make him a little wobbly, so he kept a hold of Thrawn. His mouth tasted mostly like the creamy liqueur they'd been drinking earlier. The texture of his tongue and mouth were subtly different from a human's, and Car'das explored them in detail, trying tease out exactly how.

Thrawn tugged him closer, and Car'das felt a growing hardness twitch against his hip. He made a brief sound of appreciation, framing a prayer of gratitude to whatever Chiss gods were responsible for procreation, because he might be out tens of thousands of light-years from home making questionable life choices, but someone up there was clearly looking after the important things.

Beneath that sinister black uniform, Thrawn's body felt lean and muscular. Car'das itched with the desire to peel it away and see for himself. 

Thrawn's hands had already slipped under his jacket to touch him through the thin fabric of his shirt. His first, dizzying assault had slowed to a more leisurely exploration, no less thorough or uncannily perceptive. 

Car'das was briefly stymied by the unfamiliar clasps of Thrawn's uniform tunic. He paused for a beat before attempting them, giving Thrawn the opportunity to object. 

Thrawn kissed him again, teeth sinking into his lower lip, an encouragement, or knowing him a challenge, to figure this out while his brain was suffering from critical overload. Car'das moaned again and fumbled at the first catch. His fingers grazed the warm skin of Thrawn's neck, evoking a shiver of reaction.

Experimentally, Car'das brushed a light touch over the hollow of his throat when the fastening finally yielded. Another hitch in Thrawn's breathing; a little more teeth. Car'das grinned into the kiss.

He pressed a soft kiss to the skin under Thrawn's jaw and was rewarded with a stronger reaction. Next he tried his tongue, and then his teeth, since Thrawn hadn't been shy with his. 

He tipped his head back to give Car'das better access. Hands hard and callused from a lifetime of fight training and firing blasters were somehow on his bare skin. He was saying something in Cheunh that might have even been swearing. Car'das kissed his throat again. 

"I love that. Just the sound of it is so beautiful, I get distracted listening to your voice sometimes."

Thrawn traced one of his ribs with a nail; he might as well have used fire. "I've told you, you're too easily distracted."

As if to underscore his point, Thrawn was suddenly pushing shirt and nerf-hide jacket off his shoulders together. Car'das hadn't even noticed him unbuttoning anything. 

Thrawn pushed him down onto a sleep couch not much different from the one in his own guest quarters and stepped back. His long, dexterous fingers made short work of the fastenings Car'das had only gotten halfway through, and he shrugged out of the heavy tunic, meticulously laying it over the back of a chair instead of simply dropping it on the floor. 

Car'das, taking this opportunity to get rid of his boots, paused to watch as he stripped out of an equally black undershirt, revealing at last the dark blue skin of his torso. He had been body-conscious of Thrawn from the minute he'd laid eyes on him, but somewhere along the way he'd slid across the line from threat to something else entirely. There was surety, grace, and command in his movements, a combination that anchored the eye. 

Thrawn's red, glowing eyes were fixed on him as his hands dropped lower, unfastening his trousers. Hastily, Car'das let go of the boot he was holding and kicked it out of the way. But when he started to go for his own belt, Thrawn stopped him.

"Please. I would like that pleasure for myself."

All Car'das could manage was a short, jerky nod. He curled his hands over the edge of the mattress to keep them out of trouble, feeling exposed even though Thrawn was the one stripping. 

He stepped out of his trousers, completely unselfconscious. His cock was even darker than the rest of his skin, almost black, the details maddeningly hard to distinguish in the dim light setting. 

Planting a hand in the middle of his bare chest, Thrawn pressed him down onto the narrow mattress, following smoothly to settle astride his hips. Car'das was transfixed by the sight, by Thrawn's gaze raking over him, missing nothing.

At this range, his eyes burned like a supermassive star, a gravitic well capable of swallowing worlds. Car'das slid a hand up his arm, curling around his bare shoulder, and let it pull him in. 

Unsurprisingly, Thrawn brought the same concentration and uncanny perceptiveness to this task as to every other. His touch was confident but curious, seemingly as fascinated by the light brown hue of Car'das' skin as Car'das was by the deep blue of Thrawn's. How many alien species had he encountered in the flesh? From the way he talked, the Chiss were pretty insular. He had to have picked up Sy Bisti somewhere, though. It was strange to think that Car'das, in his unremarkable Republic youth, might have seen more of anything than the extraordinary Commander Thrawn.

Thrawn hummed into his mouth, a pleased sound, as they explored each other's bodies. He had a long back that curved sinuously as he moved, dragging his bare skin against Car'das, still half-clothed. 

Instead of moving to fix that, Thrawn continued on mapping his body in an unhurried and meticulously thorough manner that was fast on its way to unstringing him. Car'das was hard pressed to keep up. He kissed from Thrawn's throat up to his mouth and back down the curve of his shoulder from a spot behind his ear, fascinated by his sensitivity. 

Thrawn said something in Cheunh, but Car'das was distracted by the husky quality his voice had acquired. "What was that?"

"You tell me," Thrawn replied. He continued, murmuring into Car'das' ear. 

There was a sort of rhythm to his words. It wasn't quite rhyming, but Car'das thought he knew the answer. "Poetry? Something about…light? and heat?" 

"A star, coalescing from the clouds of a solar nursery, spinning out planets and luminous jets of gas. A dawning seed of flame, a vast cerulean fire. The spreading golden glow, red consuming conflagration. Its heart crushed deep inside sprays out in blazing waves. Its heart crushed deep inside, so dark no light escapes." Thrawn frowned. "It's difficult to fit the words of your language into the proper forms."

Car'das' mouth had gone dry. He swallowed a few times and finally managed, "Sounds pretty good to me. But all I know are cantina limericks. On Nar'Shadda there once lived a Hutt—"

He cut himself off before he could permanently damage the mood. Thrawn had sat back on his heels, taking this in with an expression that had more than a little in common with the one that had preceded the battle for the Vagaari treasure ship. 

Car'das had his first really good view of Thrawn's body. His torso was long and supple. No body hair, Car'das noticed, but a subtle variation of colour across his chest and arms, shading from midnight to navy. 

His cock was darkest of all, and Car'das wondered briefly what colour Chiss blood was. It stood up almost flat against the lighter skin of Thrawn's stomach, the crown flatter and less bulbous than a human penis. Thin, close ridges ran lengthwise all the way around the shaft. 

Car'das was tracing the muscles of Thrawn's thighs, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be allowed to go much higher just yet. Thrawn's own caresses finally trailed belt-wards down Car'das' ribs, his touch light. It sent a shiver racing ahead of itself that transmuted into a laugh. 

Mortified, Car'das clapped a hand over his mouth. Thrawn raised his head, brows drawn in puzzlement.

"Sorry," Car'das apologised through his fingers. He considered bringing up his other hand to cover the rest of his face. He bet you could never tell when a Chiss was blushing. "I'm…a little ticklish."

"Ticklish?" Thrawn repeated, tasting the word. Thoughtfully, he traced a feather-light touch across Car'das' lower belly. Another breathless giggle escaped his lips.

"It's a—reflex. In certain humans. Some other species, too," Car'das continued, trying to control himself. "Not the Chiss?"

"No." Thrawn's teasing edged lower, flirting with the waistband of his black nerf-hide pants. Car'das' eyes nearly crossed trying to get a better look, pinned as he still was. 

"Please," Car'das begged, then tried again in Cheunh. "Please."

"Please what?" Thrawn replied in that language.

There were a lot of things Car'das wanted to say. _I want you to screw me blind. Let me suck your cock. Put your hands on me._ What came out instead was, "Keep looking at me like that."

In fact a look of surprise flickered over Thrawn's face, and something more. Maybe an actual crack in that constant façade of suave composure. 

"It bothers people, doesn't it?" It wasn't really a question. "The way you see through them. But I like it. I like that you give me that much attention. Because whatever you see, you still think I'm worth it. From the start—"

That probably counted as a lunge, Car'das thought in passing, and then he had better things to do than think. Thrawn wasn't playing around now. He responded to Car'das' hands on his ass with a thrust against his stomach. It was a sinuous motion that seemed to go on forever and reminded Car'das of just how uncomfortably tight his pants had gotten.

They stayed locked together in an embrace so intense Car'das forgot about oxygen until he felt a wave of it rush into his emptied lungs. He gasped into Thrawn's mouth when those clever hands finally drew him out of his pants.

Thrawn bit his lip, pulling back far enough to deliver a hot, intent look before diving in again. Car'das wound his arms around him, locking him in close. He slid his palms along Thrawn's back to feel the muscles shifting and dug his fingers into the meat of his ass. 

Thrawn vented a reptilian hiss—not displeased, given what his hands were still doing, but it sent a definite spike of arousal straight to Car'das' cock. Taking that as encouragement, Car'das finally reached between them for Thrawn's erection.

It was already slick, although whether from its own precome or Car'das' he couldn't say. Without thinking, he brought his hand up and licked his fingers. 

That got him another hiss. Thrawn took his hand and licked the palm, tasting for himself. Car'das was momentarily blinded by the vision of Thrawn's mouth on his cock.

First things first; Car'das could take a hint. He took hold of Thrawn's cock again and started stroking. He tried to keep up with the rhythm Thrawn set, but he kept getting distracted exploring. The ridges he'd noticed earlier were fleshy rather than hard, and the spaces between them felt wider than he'd expected, suggesting it expanded when aroused. Instead of flaring at the head, the tip was more rounded, with a flattish face angled to the underside that rose towards the midline instead of dipping like the head of a human cock.

Car'das was fascinated. The lengthwise ridges seemed to channel precome, too, facilitating lubrication. He experimented, twisting his wrist and fingering the head and slit. 

Thrawn didn't get distracted—go figure. He got _competitive_. For every thrust and gasp Car'das coaxed out of him, Thrawn had to exact two. He seemed bent on making Car'das' fingers go numb and his eyes glaze over, which wasn't fair at all because Car'das wanted to keep watching the play of calculation and desire on his face.

In the end, Thrawn won, but Car'das enjoyed surrendering a hell of a lot more than he would have anyway. Thrawn watched him, pinning him down while he wrung the last shivers of orgasm out of his twitching cock, breath coming fast against his skin, gaze unwavering, intent on capturing every detail.

When finally the last spasm had subsided and Car'das lay quiescent beneath him, basking limply in the afterglow, Thrawn closed his hand around his own cock where Car'das' grip had slackened and brought himself off. He vented a low, sibilant hiss of relief and pleasure, then came hard into their combined fist.

His collapse was gradual, accomplished in stages as the tension of desire eased from his body. There wasn't quite enough room for them to lie side by side, but Thrawn managed to shift enough of his weight so that he wasn't crushing Car'das. 

Thrawn's head came to rest next to his. Car'das reached for him, sticky fingers tracing his ribs as they rose and fell. 

Leaning in closer, Thrawn kissed him again, slow and almost languorous. It was a while before even he mustered the ambition for anything more.

It was actually Car'das who made a lazy effort to kick his pants, pulled only halfway down his thighs, the rest of the way off. Thrawn rolled up onto one elbow. 

"I have my own refresher, if you'd like to wash."

Car'das gave in to the inevitable and sat up so he could finish undressing without thrashing like a landed fish. "Sure, thanks. Scrub your back?" 

"If that is the custom," Thrawn agreed.

"Mm, more like one of those excuses I mentioned earlier."

There, one of those small, genuine smiles Thrawn rarely parted with. Car'das stood, and offered him a hand up.

"Then let us by all means observe tradition," Thrawn said piously, taking it and rising easily.

**Author's Note:**

> Loose head-casting for Car'das was Pej Vahdat, if anyone's curious, possibly because I've been re-watching Bones. Plus I feel no obligation to be bound by the 1970s white-default casting of the original trilogy. For Thrawn, you're on your own.


End file.
